By ANDREW VOGELDaily Record Sports WriterPublished: March 6, 2013 4:00AM

ZANESVILLE -- With plenty of other big-time scorers and shooters, the West Holmes girls basketball team usually relies on Emily Molnar to do the little things that aren't so glamorous. All season, the Knights have relied on their 5-foot-7 point guard to play tenacious perimeter defense and run the offense.

"She's a fierce competitor," said West Holmes coach Lisa Patterson. "She'll do whatever the team needs her to do."

In the first half of Tuesday's regional semifinal against Columbus Bishop Hartley, the Knights couldn't take the lid off the basket, shooting just 23 percent from the floor. True to form, Molnar picked up the slack, driving into the lane and knocking down key buckets -- just when her squad needed them.

Molnar scored a season-high 19 points and West Holmes scored 44 second-half points en route to a 59-49 win over Hartley (21-6) in the Div. II Zanesville Regional semifinal. With the win, the Knights (26-1) advance to Friday's regional final against Fairfield Union, which knocked off Athens (The Plains) 42-37 in last night's other semifinal.

Despite struggling from the field in the first 16 minutes, the Knights shot a scalding 68 percent after the break. Patterson said the big adjustment was her squad quit settling for outside jumpers and penetrated to the basket. Molnar, who was 6-for-10 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line, led the charge along with Laina Snyder, who had a game-high 23 points.

"We needed to quit worrying about our shots getting blocked and attack the paint," said Patterson.

After trailing 17-15 at the break, midway through the third frame Snyder knocked down a pair of foul shots to give West Holmes its first lead (24-23) since early in the opening quarter. While the Hawks' LaQuana Hordge responded with two free throws of her own to take the lead right back, on the next possession Molnar drove into the paint and converted a mid-range jumper to put West Holmes back on top at 26-25.

From there, the Knights would never relinquish their lead. After a turnover by Hartley, Molnar came right back and attacked the basket again, this time making a layup to make it 28-25. Hartley then committed turnovers on each of its next three possessions, while West Holmes got a field goal from Snyder and two more from Paiten Strother to reel off a 10-0 run and make it 34-25, its largest lead of the contest.

Hartley coach Mike Lanza said his squad simply couldn't respond after the Knights picked up their intensity in the third quarter.

"When things started going sour, we didn't find that extra gear," he said. "We got into a little bit of a hurry because of their defense."

Once the Knights took the lead back, it allowed them to play a 2-3 zone, which neutralized the Hawks' inside game -- they had three starters standing 5-foot-11 or taller -- and forced them to settle for perimeter jump shots.

On the other end, the Hawks were forced to double-team Snyder, and the 6-foot-1 junior post found Brittleigh Macaulay on the low post for three easy layups in the fourth quarter.

"We talked about putting Laina on the high post and when someone stepped up to help her," said Patterson, "the bounce pass on the back-side block would be open."

One of the key differences in the game was that Hartley never recovered from West Holmes' third-quarter counter-punch, while the Knights weathered the Hawks' early run in the first half. After jumping out to an 8-4 lead, the Knights missed their next 13 shots as Hartley went up by five (13-8). However, with a resume that includes an unblemished ledger in the Ohio Cardinal Conference as well as non-conference wins over Hathaway Brown, Africentric and Hoover, the Knights feel they can match up against anyone.

"Our strength of schedule prepares us for this time of year," said Patterson. "We didn't schedule our opponents for the purpose of going undefeated, we scheduled them for games like tonight."

While the Knights won two games in the Zanesville Regional a year ago en route to their state runner-up finish, the Hawks were playing in their first regional in 13 years.

"It always helps when you've been there before," said Lanza.

The Knights have certainly been through the wars, with their floor general Molnar doing whatever she can to help them win the battle.

Andrew Vogel can be reached at 330-287-1624 or avogel@the-daily-record.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andvogel.